Hordes of vandals have taken a large toll on the vending machine industry, pilfering millions of dollars yearly from destroyed or illegally accessed money boxes. Vending machines are found in just about every facet of our lives, performing such tasks as vending food, drinks, candy, magazines, toys, stamps and even vending money (i.e. money changing machines). The vending machine, without human intervention, accepts money from a customer and, in exchange for the money, dispenses an item to the customer. The accepted money is held within a money box inside the machine and awaits collection by, preferably, an authorized "route man". Typically, the money box is housed within a cabinet which is accessed through a door which is opened by a key.
Vandals use numerous methods, with varying degrees of brutality, to open the door and access the money. To name a few: they drill through the key cylinder to disarm the lock; they grip protruding segments of the door latch with a pipe wrench and snap off the latch stem with a torquing action; they pry open the doors with a crow bar. Needless to say, the industry is desperately seeking new latching and locking devices which will thwart the efforts of the vandals.